Genesis 37:25

to eat bread i.e. to take their meal; cf. Genesis 31:54; Genesis 43:25. The E narrative is here interrupted, and is resumed at Genesis 37:28.

25 b. a travelling company "A caravan." Cf. Job 6:19, "the caravans of Tema, the companies of Sheba"; Isaiah 21:13, "travelling companies of Dedanites." Dothan lay on the trade route that led from Gilead through the valley of Jezreel towards Egypt.

Ishmaelites This must be regarded as a descriptive title for bands of traders at the time of the composition of this narrative. Ishmael, according to the P genealogies in Genesis, was Jacob's uncle; and the sons of Ishmael were cousins of Joseph. Here the title is used almost in the sense of "Bedouin nomads."

from Gilead The trade route followed by caravans passed (1) from Gilead on the east of the Jordan, (2) by a ford, across the Jordan, (3) by Beth-Shean or Beisan, down the plain of Jezreel, and so (4) by Lydda and the coast, to Egypt.

spicery R.V. marg. gum tragacanth, or, storax. "Spicery" is too vague a word. LXX θυμιαμάτων. Lat. aromata. "Tragacanth" is "the resinous gum of the Astragalus gummifer." "Spice, Old Fr. espice(epice), is derived from species. The mediaeval merchants recognised four -kinds" = speciesof aromatic trade; hence -spice," viz. saffron, cloves, cinnamon, nutmegs." Weekley's Romance of Words, p. 129 (1912).

balm R.V. marg. mastic, for which Gilead was famous; cf. Genesis 43:11; Jeremiah 8:22; Jeremiah 46:11; Jeremiah 51:8; Ezekiel 27:17. It was used for incense, and medicinally for wounds. It is said to be the gum of the mastic tree, pistacia lentiscus.

myrrh R.V. marg. ladanum, a gum obtained from the cistus creticus, or rock-rose. Myrrh, lôt= LXX στακτή (cf. Genesis 43:11), appears is ladunuin Assyrian inscriptions describing tribute from Syria to Tiglath-Pileser IV. The caravan trade with Egypt was evidently largely occupied with materials for the practice of physicians, embalmers, and priests.